The automotive industry has long been dominated by male voices, but in recent years, a wave of change has been sweeping through the sector. This change is being spearheaded by remarkable women who are breaking barriers, challenging norms, and reshaping the Nigerian auto dealership landscape.
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In this blog post, we will explore the inspiring stories of three women: Esheza Autos, the CEO of Eight.Drive, and the trailblazing Auto Girl, as they bring a fresh perspective and innovative approach to the traditionally male-dominated world of Nigerian car dealerships.
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Esheza Autos: Pioneering a New Path
The CEO of Esheza Autos goes by the full name, Eshokai Marian Esheza. She is a legal practitioner and was called to the Nigerian bar in 2012. After over half a decade of practising law full-time with Richard Akinjide (SAN) and later with Ocean Glory Limited Company, Eshokai Marian Esheza pivoted into the Nigerian automobile industry.
However, leaving legal practice full-time, she left with transferable skills like communications, business strategy creation, and project development, which she implemented into her new venture.
Growing up, the automobile dealership CEO had a love for cars. As such, taking the plunge to move toward a car dealership in 2019 felt like finally living her dream. Today, her business has grown considerably with over 160k followers across her business and personal page on Instagram. She runs her business where she posts cars on Instagram, using both handles: @mz_esheza and @eshezaautos.
Although not practising law full time, she has still carved a way to merge her two areas of interest— law, and automobiles. She does this by incorporating her knowledge of the law into her automobile sales business. Eshoka has big dreams for her business and career. She plans to become a global force by introducing the Metaverse system in the automobile industry.
While her business has been running for over three years, it has become one of the most reputable mobile automobile dealerships in Nigeria, selling both new and used vehicles to her loyal customers.
One of the major reasons for her success in the field in the past three years is her business’ commitment to quality and good customer service. According to the CEO, her business goal is to ensure every customer gets the best service, which is a strategy for retaining customers.
Aside from selling cars, her dealership offers other car-related services that include car rental, sales of car accessories, and restyling of car interiors. In addition, Esheza Autos offers car inspections to users who want to sell their cars and would love to have them inspected.
Automobile experts at Esheza Autos inspect vehicles in over 200 checkpoints including Transmission, Steering, Engine, Tires, Lighting, Interior, Suspension, Exterior, Brakes, Air Conditioning, Engine Diagnostics, Wheel Alignment, etc.
A variety of cars of different brands and models are available at Esheza Autos at affordable prices. Some of the vehicles available include Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Mercedes Benz E-class, Lexus RX350, BMW 535i, KIA, etc.
If you want to give your car that stylish, premium look and upgrade on the inside, Esheza Autos is the place to go. They have a team of qualified experts to perform interior styling in your car. Services offered include Wi-Fi connection, Reverse Camera installation, Touchpad installation on seats and dashboard, GPS installation, etc.
Eshokai Marian Esheza has modelled her car dealership business into a one-size-fits-all. As such, buyers can get all their desired services addressed by the company. Who knows, with her background in legal practice, she could come up with a car insurance arm of her business shortly.
Eight.Drive: Where Vision Meets Leadership
Eight.Drive is the brainchild of Nicolette Udo, a young Nigerian woman who has been in charge of the business since its inception till date. Nicollete Udo is not only the CEO, but the managing director and a certified automotive vinyl installer at her company Eight.Drive.
The name of her brand, Eight.Drive is gotten from 8WD, a drivetrain configuration that allows all eight wheels of an eight-wheeled vehicle to be drive wheels (that is, to receive power from the engine) simultaneously.
Nicolette founded the online car dealership in 2019 and to date, she’s been in charge of its operation and sold cars to some of Nigerian’s top celebrities like Adekunle Gold, Spryo amongst others. Her dealership specializes in selling luxury vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz, Range Rover, Audi, and other high-trim Toyota and Lexus Vehicles.
Aside from selling cars, Nicolette obtained her certification in automotive vinyl car wrap from Khaz Academy of Wrap, a reputable car wrapping company based in Nigeria that has wrapped cars of top Nigerian celebrities like Wizkid Ayo, whom they recently wrapped his Lamborghini Urus.
The Knowledge Nicolette obtained from Khaz Academy, she has implanted into running her business as she also offers extra services to clients such as car wrapping, car upgrading, and facelift services. Currently, her business pages on Instagram, @Eight.Drive, and @Eight.Drive.CEO has joint followership of over 55k.
Auto Girl: Empowering Women in the Auto World
For Chinazom Arinze, the founder of Auto Girl, her goal is to turn her automobile business into the new Air BnB of car rentals in Nigeria and across Africa. But, how exactly is she currently achieving this?
Before embarking on the quest to turn around the automobile business and experience in Nigeria, Chinazom Arinze first worked in Marketing for several Nigerian start-ups. However, she started Auto Girl by the side as an online dealership that sold cars and pocketed the commissions while still in school.
Doing this, she realized that while most Nigerians cannot afford to purchase a car, diasporas who visited Nigeria found it challenging to move around the country due to lack of mobility and didn’t want to spend money buying a car just for a short visit. There and then, a new vision was born for Auto Girl Nigeria and then began the remodelling and restructuring of her business plan and idea.
During the early stages of Auto Girl, Chinazom bootstrapped the business without any investor funding. Through the revenue generated from the business, she paid all staff and put them back into the business. As of 2022, the company was running solely with help from venture capitalists or Angel investors and had 7 employees aside from contract staff. However, the business has expanded today with support from partnerships and alliance Auto Girl has formed with various brands and organizations.
Auto Girl Nigeria rents vehicles out to those in need of them for a duration of time. All vehicles are insured and come with trackers. Clients who prefer driving themselves go through a vetting process to the satisfaction of which the car will be given out. The company rents out cars hourly, daily, and weekly, and cars can be rented out for as long as six months.
Auto Girl Nigeria has also expanded to include private boat and jet rental services. Owners of these vehicles reach out to the company which sends out a team to conduct inspections on the vehicles before they will be listed in their available services.
Currently, Auto Girl Nigeria runs solely in Lagos and Abuja with plans to expand to at least 10 more states in Nigeria. Speaking about her brand, Chinazom noted: “The next phase of growth is expansion as the company is trying to become Airbnb of car rentals in Africa and all over the world.”
The Collective Impact of These Women on the Nigerian Auto Dealership Landscape
One theme runs through the business operative of these three astounding Nigerian women they are rewriting the face of the Nigerian automobile industry and market. Before now, this was a field of business largely dominated by men (and still is). However, they’ve undertaken a bold and audacious step, while making the subtle statement that women can embark in this field as well and achieve remarkable success.
Eshokai Marian Esheza, Nicolette Udo, and Chinazom Arinze can be described as pace-setters, paving the way to usher in even more Nigerian women into the automobile industry. Not only that, these women are also creating job opportunities while introducing newer ways of engagement in the Nigerian automobile sector.
Looking Ahead: A More Inclusive Auto Future
While Eshokai Marian Esheza, Nicolette Udo, and Chinazom Arinze are doing remarkable things in the Nigerian automobile industry, it seems like they’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s obtainable. They have plans to revolutionize the automobile sector, and there’s every reason to believe that they’ll be launching more ideas into their business shortly.
These women have single-handedly bootstrapped their businesses in Nigeria, where running a business seems like a daunting task. More than ever, what they need even more is more support, partnership, and alliance with both automobile manufacturers in the countries and those across the globe. With that, there’s absolutely nothing they cannot reach for.
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